Fastener strip



March 2, 1937. ov c 2,072,125

FASTENER STRIP Original Filed Feb. 14, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet mm INVENTOR Q Hi. Abraham/Vow,

I" Y v L B 6'+ I ATTORNEY? March 2, 1937. v cK 2,072,125

,FASTENER STRIP Original Filed Feb. 14, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTQR Abra/7am Nov/ck.

A TTORNE K5 Patented Mar. 2, 1937 UNITED STATES 2.012.125 FASTENER s'rnrr Abraham Novick, Flushing, N. Y assignor, by mesne assignments, to United States Envelope goarinhpany, Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Application February 14,1931, Serial No. 515,793

Renewed January 4, 1935 9 Claims. (CI. 85-17) This invention relates to fasteners of a kind commonly used, for example, in envelopes for containing second class mail. Fasteners of the type involved are referred to herein as leg and arm fasteners, since they include leg portions adapted to have prongs bent downward from them and clinched through the envelope material and arm portions adaptedto be bent upward by the fingers, passed through an opening in the envelope flap, and then bent outward again to hold the envelope closed.

It has heretofore been proposed to make fasteners of this general type in the form of a strip with successive fasteners connected arm to arm and adapted to be severed between the connected arms as the individual fasteners are required for use. Such practice is unsatisfactory, however, for the reason that the severing leaves the ends of the arms ragged and rough so that a person attempting to bend the arms upward with his fingers is apt to cut or scratch his fingers or to tear his finger nails on the jagged edges.

Another practice which has been followed has been to provide individualfasteners in fiat form,

to stack these fasteners for shipment, and to feed them from a magazine to a machine which forms prongs from the leg portions thereof and clinches them to the envelope material, This practice is not entirely satisfactory because the fasteners are so thin that the provision of satisfactory separator mechanism is difllcult. The fasteners, moreover, are apt to be spilled, and this involves waste, since the restaoking of them is too slow and tedious an operation to warrant its being undertaken.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a continuous strip of fasteners of the kind referred to, and to so contrive the strip that the successive fasteners are joined leg to leg. With-this arrangement any roughness resulting at the severing of the fasteners from one another will occur on the legs, which do not have to be handled, rather than on the arms, which do have to be handled.

It is a further important object of the invention to so contrive the strip that the strip may be fed rectilinearly past a fixed cutter for severing the individual fasteners from the strip, and that each fastener by such severance will be caused to include legs of equal length symmetrically arranged with reference to the arm portion of the fastener, each leg having its ends properly pointed for forming envelope penetrating tips, 55 and each leg includingportions extending equally in opposite directions from the transverse median line of the fastener. I

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings forming part of this specifica- 5! tion:

Figure l is a back view of an envelope having a leg and arm fastener applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view of a strip composed of leg and arm fasteners of the kind em- 10 ployed in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of a single one of the fasteners in flat condition as it would appear after severance from the strip, but before the tips or prongs of the legs are bent downward; 15

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the fastener of Figure 3 after the tips of the legs are bent downward;

Figure 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the ar- 20 rows;

Figure 6 is a plan view of the fastener of Figures 3 and 4 after the prongs or tips of the legs have been clinched, as shown in Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 2, but 5 showing a modified form of fastener strip;

Figure 8 is a plan view of a single one of the. fasteners of the strip of Figure '7, the fastener being shown in a fiat condition;

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the fastener 0 of Figure 8 after the prongs on the ends of the legs have been bent downward; and I Figure 10 is a plan view of the same fastener after the prongs have been clinched inward.

In Figure 1 disclosure is made of an envelope I 35 I comprising a back 2 having an arm and leg fastener 3 applied thereto. The envelope also comprises a closure flap 4 having an opening 5 therein through which the arms 6 of the fastener 3 are adapted to be passed when such arms have been 40 bent into upstanding, substantially parallel relation, and the flap has been folded closed. The fastener 3 also comprises leg portions 1 having prongs 8 formed on opposite ends thereof, which prongs are driven through the back 2 of the 45 envelope and clinched thereto, as seen in Figure 5. As'has already been indicated,'it is an object of this invention to provide a fastener strip composed of a multiplicity of fasteners like the fas-' tener 3 connected leg to leg. A strip 9 of this kind is illustrated in Figure 2. In this strip the mean length of each leg portion is substantially onehalf the length of the arm portion of a fastener. Hence, by connecting the fastener legs end to end both the arm portions and the'leg portions are I the lengthwise dimensions of the leg portions such that the prongs 8 may be formed by the mere 10 bending down of the tips of the leg portions.

Since it is desired that the leg portions produced on successive fasteners by the severance of the fasteners from i one another shall be of equal length, provision is made for severing the leg portions midway of their length. This naturally results in the lines of severance Ila falling in alignment with the centers of successive blanks,

so that the strip may be fed rectilinearly past a fixed cutter, step by step, in the direction of the line of centers of the individual blanks for properly severing the blanks successively from the strip. The cutter is desirably arranged to cut the legs obliquely of their length so that by the severing operation pointed prong portions 8 will be formed having thesame' sharpness as the prongs already formed on the outer ends of the leg portions. In the illustrative embodiment, this result is secured by setting the cutter substantially at right angles to the direction of feed of the strip.

" It will be observed that the strip 9 is in a flat condition, and may, therefore, be reeled compactly forshipment and storage, a single reel being long enough to include a number of fasteners sufflcient to supply the requirements of a rapidly operating machine for a considerable time.

It will be understood, of course, that after the severance of a blank the blank is operated upon by a forming mechanism which bends down the prongs 8 at the tips of the legs I, and then by a driving and clinching mechanism which drives the prongs through an envelope blank and clinches them to it.

In the embodiment of Figures '7 to 10, inclusive, the fasteners III are generally similar to the fastener 3 of Figures 1 to 6 in that they comprise arms I l and legs I! having pronged tips'l3 thereon. In this embodiment the successive fasteners are also joined leg to leg, but the legs, instead of being joined end to end, are joined side to side. This arrangement necessitates the cutting through of more metal at the line of cut l4 when severing the end fastener from the strip, but has the advantage that it is adaptable to a. greater variation of relative lengths of the arm and "leg portions of the fasteners. The arrangement also involves disposing the arm portions of the fasteners more nearly at right angles to the length of the strip so that the fasteners are adapted to conform to the cylindrical surface of a reel with less distortion of the fasteners.

The form of fastener strip shown in Figure '7 can bemade economically with reference to consumption of material by cutting successive strips from overlapping zones of the sheet from which the strips'are formed.

I have described what I believe to be the best embodiment of my invention. I do not, however, wish to-be confined to the embodiment shown, but what I desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A fastener strip composed of leg and arm fasteners connected leg to leg, and having the arm and leg portions disposed obliquely of the length of the strip, the legs being spaced. from cut away to provide fastener arm and leg porthe arms at opposite sides thereof and extended in spaced parallel relation thereto and each adapted to provide a, pair of prongs, the prongs being all bendable in one direction along a pair of parallel lines, and the arms being bendable 5 in-the opposite direction-along a pair of intervening parallel lines.

2. A fastener strip composed of leg and arm fasteners connected leg to leg, and having the arm and leg portions disposed obliquely of the 1 length of the strip, the angle at which the arm and leg portions are disposed being such that both the arm portions and the leg portions occupy substantially the entire width of the strip, the legs being spaced from the arms at opposite 15 sides thereof and extended in spaced parallel relation thereto and each adapted to provide a pair of prongs, the prongs being all bendable in one direction along apair of parallel lines, and the arms being bendable in the opposite direction 20 along a pair of intervening parallel lines.

3. A fastener strip composed of leg and arm fasteners, the legs of successive fasteners of the strip being joined end to end, the legs being spaced from the arms at opposite sidesthereof 25 terial of said strip being flat in transverse section, portions of the material of said strip being tions, the leg portions being spaced from the arm portions on opposite sides thereof and extended parallel thereto, said portions being connected to each other in an intermediate zone,

the extremities of said leg portions providing 40 prongs for attachment/of the fasteners to an envelope, the leg portions of each fastener of the strip being integrally united with leg portions of adjacent fasteners. I

5. A reelable envelope fastener strip, the ma- 45 terial of'said strip being flat in transverse section, portions of the material of said strip being cut away to provide fastener arm and leg portions, the leg portions being spaced from the "arm portions on opposite sides thereof and extended parallel thereto, said portions being connected to each other in an intermediate zone, the extremities of said leg portions providing prongs for attachment of the fasteners to an envelope. the leg portions of each fastener of the strip being 55 integrallynnited. with leg portions of adjacent fasteners. the said leg portions of one fastener being in alignment with the leg portions of the adjacent fastener.

6. A reelable envelope fastener strip, the material of said strip being flat in transverse section, portions of the material of said strip being cut away to provide fastener arm and leg portions, the leg portions being spaced from the arm portions on opposite sides thereof and extended parallel thereto, said portions being connected to each other in an intermediate zone, the extremities of said leg portions providing prongs for'attachment of the fasteners to an envelope, 70

the leg portions of each fastener of the strip being integrally united with leg portions of adjacent fasteners, the said leg portions of one fastener being in alignment with the leg portions of the adjacent fastener, the said united leg 7 portions having a combined length substantially equal to that of the two arm portions of one of the fasteners.

'7. A reelable envelope fastener strip composed of a straight strip of sheet metal flat in transverse section, said strip having parallel obliquely extending slots provided in the opposite edges thereof to form spaced arm and leg portions, of the fasteners, certain leg portions of adjacent fasteners of the strip being integral but severable.

8. A reelable envelope fastener strip composed of a strip of sheet metal fiat-in transverse section, said strip having parallel obliquely ex-- tending slots provided in the opposite edges strip being integral but severable, the slots along one edge being alternately long and short and being in alignment respectively with short and long slots along the opposite edge, the long slots in the two edges being extended into overlapping relation so that the inner ends of adjacent slots are separated only by the width of the intervening leg material.

9. A fastener strip as set forth in claim 7 wherein the arm portions are rounded at the free ends thereof along both edges of the strip, and wherein the leg portions are sharply pointed at the outer forward corners along one edge of the strip and at the lower rear corners along the opposite edge of the strip.

ABRAHAM NOVICK. 

